Kunoichi
by Antifishestablishmentarianist
Summary: On being a kunoichi. Oneshot.


I wrote this a while back when I came to the conclusion described below. In short - the women of **Naruto** fail at being kunoichis. So, please, take my opinion with a grain of salt. This is set before Tsunade and Shizune show up, and I tried to work with only characters Ino would know. Hence, no Yuggao or anyone similar. There was a random ninja chick in the Ino n' Sakura flashbacks, teaching them ikebana, so I gave her a name - Haruka. Enjoy.

* * *

Ino splashed icy water onto her face, clearing away the exfoliant, gently patting her skin dry with a towel.

Tired blue eyes peered back at her from the mirror. Her face was bright red and unnaturally warm from the deep cleansing. Carefully, she wiped the cleansing liquid onto her face with cotton pad, thankful that she only had to do this once a week as it was time consuming and not very attractive.

A kunoichi was what Ino was, and a kunoichi must always look her best. Her skin must always be clear, make up carefully applied, clothing and hair perfect, hands un-roughened and unscarred.

Her beauty regimen was the subject of scorn from both shinobi and her fellow 'kunoichi' alike. It didn't matter to her. What did they know? The boys… they knew nothing at all. They believed in fighting out right, in power of arms and physical strength.

The girls were even worse. Sakura was weak, neither shinobi nor kunoichi. She cared about her appearance, but not as a ninja weapon. The girl had neither charisma nor talent with fighting.

Hinata was mostly likely the closest to a kunoichi out of all of them. She was pretty and took care of herself well. But Hinata was shy and was much better suited to tracker work with her infamous eyes.

The girl in Team Gai, Tenten, was shinobi through and through. Her hair, though long and smooth, was tied back out of the way of her deadly weapons. Tenten was brash, bold, and a bit crude at times. Her body was scarred and her hands worn from working with weapons so much.

That Suna nin. Temari. She was trapped in a society that caught her somewhere between the two places. She was pretty, and took care of herself, but her hands were rough from work, her skin toughened by the harsh sand, and her eyes had the harsh sharpness of a shinobi, not the kunoichi's subtle shifting.

Even the older women of the village. Anko was too flirtatious, too bold and brash to be a kunoichi. Kurenai was too innocent to deceive others with slick words and a pretty figure. Even the one who had taught them in the academy, Haruka, was too gentle, too motherly to be a proper kunoichi.

Ino though. Ino was a kunoichi through and through. Reaching up, she pulled out the hair stick, allowing her wet golden hair to tumble down from its perch at the back of her head.

She ran a brush through it delicately, smiling. The new conditioner was working wonderfully with her hair, balancing it and causing it to shine even more brightly.

Despite how weak kunoichi seemed, they were truly quite deadly. Kunoichi were mistresses of deception, skilled at lying and interrogation. Seduction missions were quite common among the hidden village's kunoichi.

And she was prepared to take on anything for her village. Ino knew the important skills that a kunoichi must know. Ikebana, kimono, tea ceremonies. All of the traditional things, as well as ninjutsu and genjutsu.

Dropping the towel, she slipped the pale green, thin cotton yukuta on, tying it with a darker green obi. Ino smiled again. Her figure was slim and lightly tanned, lithe and pleasing, curved. Just like a kunoichi should be.

A thin coat of clear enamel went onto her fingernails, making them shine brightly in the light. A quick glance into the mirror told her that her face was still as red as before. Beauty had a price, they said.

And Ino was willing to pay it. She stepped out of the bathroom, hair bound into a tight braid. Walking without sound, she made her way down the hall towards her room. The space was sparsely decorated, but it made her smile all the same.

White walls, for the purity of the soul. One black wall, for the burden that a kunoichi must bear. Dove grey ceiling for the shadows of emotional attachments. Red doors for blood that must be shed. Black trim for obligations and mistakes, a reminder of the void. A wall hanging with a painting of bamboo, for serenity. Two mattresses, one on either side of the room, for balance.

It pleased her. The door was pushed open more by the cat. "Hello, kitty," she said softly, her voice softer without the honey and childishness layered on it.

The cat purred, rubbing against her leg. Ino bent down to pet it, smile twisting into a smirk. Deception was all that kunoichi needed. Her fellow nin thought her foolish and weak. Superficial.

Nin must put work into their weapons, and Ino's weapon was her body and her looks. They did not seem to understand. No matter, really. It was all part of the deception.

Ino had never really _liked_ Sasuke. But a kunoichi must hide behind the normality of a girl. It was only her sense of competitiveness that kept her at it, although she longed to break Sakura's fingers every time the girl whined about her precious Sasuke.

Truthfully, she held them all in contempt. A single kunoichi, young and still inexperienced, was able to fool all the nin in her village. That curved her lips back into a smile as she flipped off the light and crawled into bed.

Ino was a true kunoichi. Deceptive, deadly, cunning. And one day, they would all know how true this was. For now, though, she was content to hide in the shadows of broad daylight, waiting to strike.

For that was the purpose of a kunoichi.


End file.
